33G 
ZOOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 
Doebner (Stett. ent. Zeit. 1864, p. 196) describes a perfect hermaphrodite 
of Satm'nia carpini, in which the right side is entirely male, the left female. 
He also describes a female Lucanus cervus, with male mandibles, and examples 
of monstrosity in a male Lucanus cerms and in Pentodon punctatm. 
A popular natural history of the more prominent species of injmlous and 
beneficial insects is given by Vogt in his ‘ Vorlesungen liber niitzliche und 
schiidliche, verkannte und verlaumdete Thiere,’ Leipzig, 1864, pp. 106-239. 
COLEOPTERA. 
A. Separate Publications, 
Baly, J. S. Descriptions of new genera and species of Phyto- 
phaya, 8vo, pp. IG. London, 19tli April, 1864. 
Thomson, James. Systema Cerambycidarum on expose de 
tons les genres compris dans la faniille des Cerambycides et 
families limit ropbes. Liege, Paris, &c., 1864, pp. 352, 8vo. 
Tliis important work, whicb forms a complete synopsis of the 
genera of Longicorn Beetles, is unfortunately disfigured by 
the excessive prominence of two of the great evils of modern 
zoology, namely, the multiplication of genera and the adoption of 
an immense number of higher groups of subordinate value. With 
regard to the former of these practices, of course there is much 
to be said on both sides ; the establishment of genera must be 
left to the discretion of individual writers ; what appears to one 
author to be a very distinctly marked genus, is regarded by 
another as insufficiently characterized, whilst a third may con- 
sider it capable of being split up into several groups. The last- 
mentioned opinion seems to prevail very generally amongst na- 
turalists with regard to existing genera ; every slight difficulty 
experienced in referring a new species to a known genus gives 
rise to the establishment of a new generic group, or to the 
splitting up of the old ones, until in many groups we are ra- 
pidly approaching the condition of having a distinct genus for 
almost every species. Without charging M. Thomson with 
going quite to this length, it will be evident that he is doing 
his share towards the attainment of so undesirable a consum- 
mation when we find the number of genera of Cerambycidse 
admitted by him into his list amounting to 1085, a number 
exceeding that of the genera adopted by Lacordaire in the far 
more extensive, and at least equally difficult, group of the Cur- 
culionidse. 
The second error into which M. Thomson has fallen, namely 
that of unduly multiplying the number of his subordinate 
groups, is one which must materially diminish the usefulness of 
his work. It is as if the work were tabulated throughout, but 
with names given to each ramification of the table down to the 
fifth or sixth degree; and the resulting complexity may be easily 
imagined. Thus the family (Jerambyeidic is divided into two 
